Los Angeles daily herald., 1887-12-05
A TYPICAL MISER.
His Mania for ACCum u la tin q
worthless EruMpery.

Worthless ErumPery.
Thomas Murray's (of Omaha claims
to distinction as crank are based
upon two characteristics. Like Mrs.
Toodles, he buys at auctions and else
where all the useless trumpery that
can find no other purchaser, and he
never pays workmen or any one else
except at the end of a lawsuit. With
a cool half million he lives in a tum-
ble-down shanty ole end OF a lot
worth a hund ed tn )usand. He is a
bachelor and lives by himself, doing
his own cooking, in spite of the
fact that an agel sister of his,
who is compelled to work out for
her support, would be only too
happy to become his housekeeper.
Another building ON the same lot
serves the purpose of a storehouse for
the accumulated umpery OF a quarter
of century. In it may be found old
teakettles. in all stages of desuetude,
kettle, with spouts, kettles with no
spOuts and kettles with bert and
CT ooked spouts, as we'll as kettles with
neither bottoms nor handles. Rusty
stove-drums. crownless hats and axes
without handles add to the useless
pile. Shovels without handles,
brooms with broken handles, mops
with neither rags nor handles and
baskets without bottoms are as COM
mon as the dust which covers the
whole col ection of gone to-seed brio
a-brac. Rarely is there anything in
the collec. ion of the value of SOU.
Tom has been known, however, to
turn a penny out of his ancient pile t {
rubbish. At one time q steamboat
blew up near the town and Tom
bought the anchor for $1.50. Years
afterWard a steamboat came al ny
that had lost its anchor. 1t had to
have one or 20 out of business, and as
Tom had the only one in town he
multiplied the price he paid for it by
100. The steambOat-owners kicked,
but Tom had the anchor and knew his
opportunity. The $3.50 was paid. His
propensit, for driving hard bargains
of this kind makes him The victim of
the bad b US pract cal jokes occasion
ally. One morning one OF these mis-
chievous youngsters poked his head
into the door of Toms shop and
shouted, "Hallo, Tom, have you got
such thing as spinning wheel ?"
A half hours rummage in his pre-
cious collection of disabled utensils
failed to reveal the longedfor spin
ning-wheel, and the boy departed evil
de- thy disappointed.
At moor another boy opened the
door, with the greeting: "Say, Tom,
have You got any spinning wheels ?"
mo" said Murray. SAT least 1
can't find any: How many do you
want?"
"Two," answered the boy, with a
face as grave as deacon.
Tom was taking a nap in his chair
at 4 O'Clock in the afternoon when an
other boy awakened him by shouting
in his ear: "Mr. Murray, have you
got any spinning-whe-ls?"
"Gleat God!' said Tom, 'what a
demand for spinning wheels! Got
none now, bub, but will have in a few
Gays. Call again"
Iom ordered twenty spinning
wheels, but from that day to this has
never set eyes on customer tina
wanted one.
He is most tireless litigant. He
sues every body thtt owes him on the
slightest provocation, and seldom
pays anybody else until they sue him.
There fifty suits now pending
against him, brought chiefly by
laboring men whose hire e has with
held. There is a particular case on
the docket now that crawlei into that
position more than twenty years ago.
The amount involved at first was
small, the costs now approximate a
mountain. Not long ago Murray's
contestant, through his lawyer, pro-
posed compromise. 1om's lawyer
vas in favor OF accepting the proposal,
but his client was obdurate.
NO." said he, "get another con-
tinuance. Only one witness now on
the other side, AMI he is in Europe
for his health. He'll die - soon,
and then we'll have the cinch on en-
This queer genius, of whom the old
est inhabtant can tell amusing stories
all day long, went to Omaha in 1854.
He was carpenter by trade and as
poor as Jobs mouse. He did not
work at his trade long, for by specula-
ting in odds and ends he soon ac-
quired money enough to buy some
cheap land in what was then the su-
burbs of the infant town. He has had
nothing to do since but to practice his
oddities and see his POSSESSIONS grow
into the value of round half million.
His neighbors think there is some
thing wrong with Tom. He thinks it
is the neighbors whose wits are
kinked.-[ Philadelphia Times.
AZ. n